This is because of you, she hissed. If you had just followed the rules. If I had just let you find us into silence while you stole from everyone. I shot back. You grabbed my daughter.
You really thought there wouldn't be consequences. The chalk drawings were violations. There was never any rule about chalk. Jake interjected. I read every single word of the covenants.
You made it up. Just like you made up half the violations you've been charging people for 3 years. You're a thief and a bully and you finally picked on the wrong family. They let her out through the clubhouse window. I watched them load all her board members into separate patrol cars.
The remaining homeowners were standing around in shock, processing what just happened. Some were already pulling up HOA records on their phones, checking to see how much they'd been fined over the years. Mr. Peterson, who lived three houses down, came up to Jake. I paid $1,200 in fines last year.
Can we get that back? Jake nodded. The DA's office will be working with you all on restitution. Every fraudulent fine will be repaid. It's part of the criminal case.
People started shaking Jake's hand, thanking him. A few were hugging me. One woman told me she'd been fined $800 for planting roses in her front yard roses that were supposedly the wrong color for the neighborhood aesthetic. It was all made up. All of it.
Years of harassment and theft. But here's the thing. We still didn't know the full extent of what Patricia had done. That wouldn't come out until the trial 3 months later. The arrests made the local news at night.
By morning, it was all over social media. HOA board arrested for embezzlement was trending locally. Our doorbell rang constantly for days. Neighbors wanting to tell us their stories. Reporters wanting interviews, lawyers offering to help with civil suits.
Jake took a week off work to help organize everything. He set up a meeting with all the homeowners and the DA's office. They brought in forensic accountants to trace every dollar. The full picture was even worse than Jake had found. Patricia and her board had been running this scheme for 6 years, not for the total amount embezzled was over $600,000.
They created fake vendor companies, inflated costs, charged fines for madeup violations, and pocketed the difference. Patricia had used the money to buy her Lexus, take European vacations, and renovate her household while living in a neighborhood where she was constantly fighting people for minor violations. The audacity was breathtaking. My favorite part was finding out that Patricia's own house had been in violation of HOA rules for 2 years. Her fence was for inches to tall according to the actual covenants.
But of course, she'd never find herself. The HOA hired an interim management company while we organized new elections. Jennifer Park, who really had just looked the other way rather than actively participating, resigned and moved out of the neighborhood within a month. But the criminal case was just getting started. The trial took place 3 months later.